1. Field
Land grid array sockets.
2. Description of Related Art
A land grid array (LGA) is a type of surface-mount packaging for integrated circuits. An LGA socket can be electrically connected to a printed circuit board and finds use as a physical interface for a microprocessor. Representatively, an LGA socket includes protruding pins or lands which touch contact points on a device side of a microprocessor. The microprocessor is pressed into place by an independent loading mechanism that includes a load plate and a frame. An installing technician lifts the hinged load plate, inserts the microprocessor, closes the load plate over the top of the processor into the frame and pushes down a locking load lever. The pressure of the locking lever on the load plate clamps the contact points of the microprocessor firmly down onto socket of the printed circuit board (e.g., a motherboard) pins or lands. A typical load plate only covers the edges of a top surface of the microprocessor which leaves the center of the microprocessor free to make contact with or be adjacent to a cooling device placed on top of the microprocessor.
As noted above, insertion of a processor in the socket is typically done by hand which can result in bent contacts which renders the socket useless before being repaired and/or replaced. Bent contacts in LGA sockets is a defect introduced during board and system assembly that has caused millions of dollars for the computer industry since the introduction of the sockets. Mitigation methods, including customized independent loading mechanisms, have been tried with varied success.